Color in the Handmaid's Tale

Throughout the Handmaid's Tale, the author emphasizes the importance of color throughout the entire novel. Margaret Atwood uses colors through her characters to let the readers think in different directions and have their own imaginations within the book. Some colors I picked up while reading were blue, red, and green. The commanders' wives were symbolized through wearing baby blue which could have multiple meanings or symbolize many different things. The commander's wives are shown in there baby blue which could be known to symbolize gendered uniforms. Some of those commanders' could be seen to portray sadness or comfort within the novel. Another analogy we think of when we think of light blue is water or the sky. Does this symbolize anything? I love that the different colors can almost create any story within the story with your own imagination and interpretation. The second color is red. The handmaid's are shown wearing red. Red can symbolize many negative things such as danger, sin, devil, evil, and violence. The handmaid's are meant to be scary and dangerous through their red color. Another red symbol is a females menstrual cycle. Although this is a taboo and dirty subject. Is that meant to be? Red is also a color that does not blend in much. It makes it easy for the handmaid to stand out and be spotted so people always have their eyes on them. The Martha's wear green which could be known as servants. Green is the color of energy, plants, and growth of the environment. One could view the Martha's as a natural role, someone always providing the essentials. Green is a color that does not stand out as much as red and could be seen as a "good" color that comes with money, economics, and responsibilities. Red is viewed more as bad, evil, and hell-like. Blue is more passive. It is interesting the way Atwood uses colors like these to define people within the novel. She gives each person their power through the color they are wearing.

Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 5, 2017 at 1:32 PM

    With the blue of the wives symbolizing water or sky, it could have to do with the vastness of the sky and the sky covering everything. The wives are the overseers of the home, ranking above the marthas and the handmaids. The wives nurture the garden and are supposed to be necessary to the sex ceremony, possibly having a role in the bringing of life in the way that water is necessary to life, and in contrast to the menstrual role in life bringing that the handmaids have. Water is also purity, so the wives who do not do the actual dirty work of bearing and birthing the children are more pure in their blue dresses than the handmaids in red. I am also curious about the enonowives wearing stripes, because I don’t think the colors of the stripes are mentioned. Stripes seems like old timey prison uniforms; but are they supposed to be criminalized somehow?

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